It took 10 seasons for the last NY Mets manager to get fired to manage in MLB again

With Willie Randolph, fans generally think of two things about his ending. The unceremonious firing out in California and no future opportunities to manage again hang a dark cloud over what could have otherwise turned into a good MLB career as a skipper. The New York Mets fired him with a .544 winning percentage with a reputation of collapsing and coming up short in the playoffs. It’s not all on him and yet zero opportunities to manage in the majors again seem to have made it so.

Randolph’s lack of future managerial jobs isn’t unique. Of the last ten managers who’ve either been fired or relieved of duty another way, only two have picked up another gig as a manager.

Jeff Torborg was fired in early 1993 and would finish off the 2001 season with the Montreal Expos and later start the 2002 campaign with the Florida Marlins. He was fired early on in 2003, before the Marlins went on a run to the World Series. After him, only one other manager who captained the Mets ship would end up with another gig in the future.

Bobby Valentine’s disastrous 2012 is an outlier for ex-Mets managers

Bobby Valentine was elevated by the Mets on August 26, 1996, to replace Dallas Green. Green was the next one up after Torborg, failing to do much of anything as the Mets manager.

Valentine, on the other hand, would become one of the more highly-regarded managers in club history. A .534 winning percentage in the regular season and back-to-back playoff appearances in 1999 and 2000 made him unique. The Mets had never and have only once since been to the playoffs in back-to-back seasons.

Valentine lasted through 2002. He wouldn’t manage in MLB again for another decade.

Valentine returned to Japan to manage and landed in the ESPN broadcast booth. In November of 2011, the Boston Red Sox hired him to become their next manager. Replacing Terry Francona was a tall task. The team would go 69-93. The .426 winning percentage was their worst since 1965 when at 62-100 the Red Sox had the only season worse than what Valentine mustered up.

The firing turned out to be the best move for Boston who became World Series Champions the next year. A decade off from managing in the big leagues and then a historically bad year for a franchise with many dark clouds in its history, it was the last time Valentine would manage in the big leagues.

In parts of 16 seasons as a major league manager, Valentine only took a team to the playoffs twice and never finished in first place. His years with the Texas Rangers from 1985-1992 were very mediocre, resulting in a .490 winning percentage. With the Mets, things went much better. Their 75 wins and fifth place finish out of five teams in the 2002 season was enough for the Mets to move on. In came Art Howe. The Mets couldn’t have prepared for what was next.

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